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She ifloittooiiim| -Jtlonitdrr*
D. C. SUTTON, Editor and Proprietor.
TALMAGE.
the BROOKLYN DIVINE’S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Sul(Ject: “A Family Quarrel Settled.”
Text: Let there be no strife, I pray thee,
■between me and thee, and between my herds
men and thy herdsmen. Is not the whole
land before thee/ Genesis xiii., 8, 9.
L nele and nephew—Abraham and Lot
Both pious, both millionaires; with flocks so
largo that the herdsmen got into a fight,
pe: haps about better pasturage, or about
•better water priv.lege, cr the cow of one
<he< d h oked the cow of another herd. It
was not their poverty of opportunity that
brought these two m m into a difference, but
it was their wealth of opportunity. Abra
ham, the glorious old Bedouin sheik, saw
that the controversy was absurd ami he said
to Lot—for it really see u o 1 like two ships in
the middle of the Atlantic Ocean quarreling
nbout sea room—Abraham said to Lot:
'•‘Now, let us azree to differ. Here is the
mountain district swept of the tonic sea
breeze, and with a far-reaching prospe t,
and out yonder is the Valley of the .lordun.
with cornfields and vineyards, and tropical
luxuriance and immeasurable acreage of
wealth, and the great river in which to water
the flocks. You can hp.ve either.” Lot, who bad
fiot as much wealth as Abraham and might
have been expected to mako the second
choice, niado the first selection, and with a
modesty that must have brought a smile to
Abraham’s face, said: “Abraham, you can
have the rocky district aud the fine pros
pects, and I’ll take the valiey of the Jordan
with the cornfields and the great river in
which to water the flocks, and all the tropi
cal luxuriance of the vineyards. I’ll take
that.” So the controversy was forever set
tled, and Abraham, great-souled Abraham,
carried out the suggestion of the text: “Let
there bo no strife. I pray thoe, between me
and thoe. and between my herdsmonand thy
herdsmen. Is not the whole laud before
thee:”
Well, in this last quarter of the nineteenth
.century, and in this beautiful land called
America, after Americus Vespucius, but
which ought to have been called Columbus
after its discoverer, Columbus, we havo a
■wealth of religious opportunity and of eccle
siastical a:l\antage that is positively bewil
dering. So many styles of creed, so mnuy
styles of worship, so many styles of church
government, so many styles of architecture.
What opulence of ecclesiastical opportunity.
While in desolate regions there maybe only
one church, and it is that or nothing, in our
thickly settled districts of country there is
such vast v ariety of churches and such vast
variety of creeds, one would think a man
would have no difficulty in making a selec
tion. Let there be no war of vestments, no \
contest ns between liturgical and nou-liturgi
cal adherence, no J strife about baptismal
modes, no quarrel as to whether a handful!
of water or a riverful] of water is the better.
If Abraham on the heights gets only the
sprint ling of the clouds, let him not begrudge
Lot, who has the whole river Jordan
in which to immerse himself. “Let there bo
no strife, 1 pJhv thee, between mo and thee
and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen.
Is not the whole land before thee?” Espe
cially is it unfortunate when in the home cir
cle there is an angry controversy across the
breakfast, or the dining, or the tea tabic,
and on the one side of the tanlo some one
says: “I never could bear the rigid doctrines }
of Presbyterianism,” and the answer comes
from the other end of the table saying: “I
never could endure the conventionalities ■
of Episcopacy,” and from one side of !
the table conies: “I can’t see how they 1
stand the noise in the Methodist Church,” |
and from the other side there comes back the j
respome: “All the Baptists are bigotsl” j
Hundreds of families have been split of oc
clesiasticism, aud as the discussion goes on i
there is kindling of indignation, and it needs j
some Abraham to come out and put his foot j
on the lighted fuse before the explosion takes
pia-c, and say: “Let there bo no strife bo- j
tween me and theeand between my herdsmen j
aud thy herdsmen. Is not tho whole land ,
before thee?” I undertake this morning a I
discussion never before undertaken in
the pulpit, because it is a very deli
cate subject, and if not rightly j
handled might produce great offense: but f j
approach the question without the slightest \
trepidation because I feel I have the divine
direction in the matter to be proposed. It is j
a tremendous question, often asked with
tears and so s and heartbreaks—a question J
involving sometimes the peace of families J
and the salvation of immortal souls: “In
matters of church attendance and in matters j
of religion, should the wife go with the hus
band or the housband go with the wife?’ I j
lay the foundation lor my remarks in the
fact that all denominations of Christians
havo in them enough truth to save the
so il and fit us for happiness and for heaven.
Go with me into any well selected theological
library, and I will show you sermons from
all denominations of Christians setting forth
the idea that man is a sinner and that Christ
is the deliverer from sin and sorrow. Well,'
that is the whole Gospel. Get that into your
heart and your life and you are fit for tho
here and the hereafter. The world has
twenty-six letters in its alphabet, but there
are only two letters in the Gospel aphabet, 8
and C, S standing for man, the sinner,
and C standing for Christ, the deliv- j
ercr. Blessed be His glorious name
forever. Now, in any church where you can j
learn these two letters and appreciate all they ;
stand for you ought to be edified and you i
ought to be happy. Then there is a differ
ence between denominations of Christians,
and some we like better than others. But
suppose four or five of U 3 should agree to
meet each other one week frora now in Chi
cago on some very important business, and
one man should take the N. Y. Cen
tral B. R., and another man should
take tho Erie, and another man
should take the Pennsylvania R. R.,
and another man should take tho Baltimore
and Ohio R. R. One becau-e he likes tho
scenery on this route the better, another be
came he likes the cars,as they are more lux
uriant n this route than the others, another
man takes this rou e Le ause the tram is
swifter. another man takes another route be
came he knows all the employes on that
road. It makes no difference so far as our
engagement is concerned if we only get there.
It makes no difference by which route we
eorne if we come to the terminus and meet
on’ - engagement. Now. in everv denomina
tt > of evangelical Christians, there is
enough truth to take you to heaven. Al
though some denominations may run trains
on a broad guage and others may run trains
on a narrow guage, still you follow the
teachings of any on; of the evangelical de
nominations of Christians and you w.ll
come out at the Grand Central Depot of the
univei sz—Heaven, the great metropolis of
God on high. Now, having understood this,
that a man is safe in any evangelical de
nomination. I proceed to remark:
First—ls in the married couple one be
a Ckri tian and the other not a Christian,
then it is the duty of the one who is a Chris
tian to go with the one who is not a Christ.an
to any church i referred, if he or she will go
to no other. Yon of the connubial partner
ship are a Christian. You are safe for the
skies.rud your first duty then is to -• cu‘ e the
eternal alvation of >our lifetime par:.re r
The salvation of the wife impendent, or the
falvniii n of the husband impenitent, is of
more imr ortance than your church wor-hip.
The residence of your companion for a
MT. VERNON. MONTGOMERY CO. GA., WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER --Sr
quadrillion of years is a mightier considera
tion than tho gratification of your ecclesias
tical taste for forty or fifty years. If a man
or a woman halt one half a minute before
surrendering a church preference w hen the
question of the eternal salvation of a partner
is involved—l say if such person halts for
half a minute in the consideration before
making tho surrender, such person has no re
ligion at all, never has had, and, I fear, nevor
will have. Mighty God, in all Thy creation
is there one person professing ’to be a
Christian and yet so stolid, so unthinking,
I so far gone unto death as to hesitate about
surrendering a church preference before a
question of salvation and Heavenly reunion ?
i If you area Christian woman and you arc
attendant on this Brooklyn Tabernacle, and
your unconverted husband will not come
here because he does not like its minister, or
its music,«or its architecture, or its uncom
fortable crowding, and ho goes to no house
of God, but would go if you accompanied
him, then your first duty is to change your
| place of worship. Take home your hymn
book to-diiv, sav good-bvo to those who are
near you in the pews, nnd you go to any one
of a hundred evangelical churches withyour
husband until his soul is saved, nnd ho joins
! von on the march to Heaven. That ring on
tho third finger of the left hand is not of so
much importance as that God vour Heavenlv
Father should in the salvation of your hus
band say in regard to him in tho words of
I the old parable: “Put tliering on his baud.”
j There never was a letter of more im
portance that came to the great city
j of Corinth—that city situated on what
was called a bridge of the sea, glistening
with sctilnture and (rated with a stvle of
ovnss so magnificent that tho following ages
have not been able successfully to imitate it,
j overshadowed hv tho Acrccorinthus.a fortress
of rock 2,00'J feet high—l say no letter of
greater importance ever came to that great
city of Corinth than the letter in which Paul
put these two startling questions: “How
knowest thou, oh, wife, but thou
slialt save thv husband? How know
ost thou, oh, husband, but thou shalt
save thy wife?” Any sacrifice you make is
cheap for salvation. Better go to the small st
church, tho weakest church, tho most insig
nificant church on earth, and lie co-partners
in eternal bliss, than that you should attend
I the most gorgeously attractive church and
, one of you perish outside evangelical advan
tages. Better I hat the drowning be saved
with a scow or a sloop, than that he or she
| should go down while vou sail Dast in the
' gilded cabins of a Britannic or a Great
! Eastern.
| . Remark tho second: If both of the mar
ried couple are Christians, but one is so nat
urally constructed as to be severely serla
rian and could not bo happy in anothor than
the one church or denomination preferred,
then it is your duty, you who are the less sec
tarian and the more liberal, to go with the one
who is very particular. As for inyseff, 1 feel
about as much at homo in one denomination
as another. 1 have sometimes said I
think _ I must have been born near
tiie line. I like tho solemn roil of
the Episcopal liturgy, and I like tho
spontaneity of tho Methodists, and I like (lie
importance given to baptism bv the Baptists,
and I like tho freedom of the Congregation
alis’s, and I like the government and the sub
lime doctrines of the Presbyterians, aud I
like a. score of other denominations just as
good as those I have mentioned, and I could
live nappily in any one of them, and preach
and die happily, and from tho sacred doors
be carried out to my last resting place. But
some persons are born with a stout and un
bending preference for somo church or some
denomination,and it would l>o torture to them
to be anywhere else. From the very startin'*'
it was indicated what they were to bo, anil
what was to be the stylo of their occlo-iasti
cisrn. It was written on the side of their
cradle, if‘father and mother had eyesight
keen enough to seo it. When thoy cried in
their infancy thoy could not be silenced until
they had for a playthiug Westminster Cate
chism or tho Thirty-nine Articles. Now, it
would be a torture and a misery for such
person to be in any denomination that was
outside of tho one preferred. But you can
afford to surrender your pref
erences if you have not’ been born
with tho same spirit of se tarianism. It
is the duty of tho grapovine to follow the
siuuosities of tho oak a'nd tho hick
ory. If Abraham has a larger flock of
Christian graces than i ,ot, who is built on a
smaller scale, then it is Abraham’s duty to
say to Lot: “Let there he no strife between
us, or between my herdsmen and your herds
men. Is not the whole land before thee?” If
you can be happy anywhere, aud your hus
band or your wife caunot be happy except in
one place, surrender your preferences, and
surrender them without discussion.
Another remark: If both of the married
couple are equally strong in their sectarian
ism aud their preferences, then go to the !
churches that please you best. You are not
bound to go to the same church. God does
not demand that you do so. Religion is some
thing between your conscience and your God.
If, therefore, on Bunday morning you came
out from the front door of your house to
gether, and one goes one way and the 1
other goes the other way, heartily wish
each other a good sermon and an hour of
profitable devotion, and when you meet at
the noonday repast, let it be evident each to
each and to the children and to the hired
help that you both have been on the Mount
of Transfiguration, though you went up by
different paths, and that you have been both .
fed with the bread of life though it were
kneaded in different trays and baked in dif
ferent ovens.
But I am often asked—for I am not discus
sing this morning an abstraction—l am
often asked by parents: “What about the
childen:” My reply is: “Let the children
mako their choice.” I havo sometimes
thought that at ten years of age a child
knows more of religion than those who have
come on to forty, fifty, sixty or seventy years
of age. We go out in the world and we get
befogged with scepticisms, and wo hear so
many of tho discussions of unbelief, an i our
life gets so full of imperfe-tion and so lull of
sin that I have thought little children may
know more religion than some of us who
have got older. At any rate, I give you the
advice, let children choose for themselves.
They will probably grow up with a rever
ence for both denominations represented by
you, the father and mother. And if you,
the father, live the holy life they will have
more reverence for your denomination, and
if you, the mother, live the holy life, they
will have more reverence for your denomi
nation ; and some day you will both be found
going to the same church and the same ser
vice, and the neighbors will look out of the
windows and they will say: “Why, I won
der what’s the matter with our neighbors,
tho husband aud wife going arm and arm to
the same church? I never thought they
would go to the same church. I wonder
what’s the matter?’ I will tell you what
i 3 the matter. Something very impor
tant has happened. That day, the
son of that family is announcing himself a
Christian. That dav the son of that house
hold is standing in the aisie to take the vows.
He had been somewhat wayward and had
given his father and mother a good deal of
anxiety; but their prayers have been an
swered in his salvation, and now, as he stand*
in the church aisle, and the minister of relig
ion says to him: “Do you take the God
who made you end the God who re
deemed you for your eternal portion:
and do you promise to serve Him all the
days of your life?” and the youn / man, with
a manly voice, says: “I do.” There is an
April shower in the pew where father and
mother sit, and a rainbow of joy overarching
everything that makes the difference or
creeds iutinitessimal. Aye, on that very*
day, the daughter of the family may put
her life on the alter of consecration, and
the suulight coming through tho church
window, Falling on her brow and check
may make her look Ilka the other daughter
whose face took on tho brightness of another
world when Go.l took her into His Heavenly
keeping years ago. Aye, I should not won
der if those parents spent the evening of
their days in the same church, all their
church preferences overwhelmed in the joy
of worshiping in the place whore their sons
nnd their daughters wore prepared for use
fulness and for heaven.
But 1 will give you a recipe for ruining
your children. Angrily discuss and contend
in your household about matters of religion,
and contend that your church is right and
all other churches are wrong, especially the
chur. h your companion attends, bring
sneer and caricature to emphasize your opin
ions, and your children will grow up to be
lieve religion is a sham, aud they will
want none of it. In the northeast storm
of domestic controversy tho Rose of Sharon
and the Lily of th > Valley never grow. Fight
about apostolic succession; light about eleo- I
tion and free agency; fight about baptism;
fight about the bishopric: light, about gown
and surplice, and tho religious interests of
vour children will be left dead on tiie lioiJ.
Vou will be unfortunate as Charles, Duke
of Burgundy, who in a battle lost
a diamond worth a nation, for you
•■ ill in tho battle about church differences in
your household,]lose the prize of salvation for
your own entire household. Os course, I say
nothing agalust your advocacy of your own
belief. That is right. Gathor all telling
illustrations, gather all demonstrative facts,
gather ail acute arguments to prove that
your theories are tho right theories,
but let tliore bo no acerbity, no
stinging retort, no insinuation, no
superciliousness, ns though you were right
nnd everybody else wrong. Take a hint
from astronomy. Tiie Ptolemie system taught
that t lie earth was tho cent r and the worlds
turned around the earth. The Coperuican
system came and taught that the sun was j
the center, and the worlds turned around
that. The bigot thinks his little b diet is tiie
sun, and he wants every, hiug to turn around
him: whil < the largo sonic 1 Christian says
the Sun of Righteousness is the centre of liis
theology and all time and all eternity turn
around it. Over tho tomb of William Stan
ley in Westminster Abby is inscribed the
passage of Scripture: “Thy monument is ex
ceeding broad. ’ Do not, therefore, crowd
us on to a very thin path like the
tiie bridge over which, tho Mahommedans
say, must go all tho souls into glory
if thoy get there—this bridge thinner than
the wob of a starved spider, thinner than
the edge of a razor or sword—and over
that bridge, reaching over hell into paradise,
all must go, or not go at all, and the
Mahommedans sav many fall down
on that edge. Wliile our way to Heav
en is not so wide that wo can take in all our
sins with us, I am gla 1 to know it is so largo
that all Christians of nil faiths and of all be
liefs may inarch in perfect safety to i
a glorious heaven. An abundant en
trance, not crowding through, but an
abundant entrance into the kingdom
of our God. Beware, my brother,
how you make a sound creed tho foundation
of your salvation. I fear some of you that I
know vory well are making that mistake. A
man may own all the statutes of the State
of New York and yet not ha a lawyer.
A man may own all the medical
treatises ever written and yet not be a
physician. A man may own whole libraries
of works on painting and statuary anil yet
not bo an artist. A man may own great vol
iimoi about architecture anil yet not be an
architect. And a man may own all tiie sound j
creeds on earth and not be a Christian. It
is not what wj have in the head and on
the back, but what wo have in the heart
and in our life that docidos every
thing. In olden times, in England,
before the modern street lamp was invented,
it was expected that every householder would
hang a lantern at his front door in the night,
nnd when the watchmen at tho eventide went
through the street! they criod: “Hang out
yttr light, hang out your light.” Oh, brothers
and sisters, instead of angrily and excitedly
dis’ussing different stylos of lanterns—one
liking this lantern better, another liking that
lantern better -as a watchman on the
wall of Zion I this day cry out: “Lot your
light so shine before men that others
seeing your good works may glorify your
Father who is in heaven. Hang out
your light, bang out vour light!” Aud, nlwive
all, do not, as some of you, in v friends, I soar
are doing, excuse yourself from accepting
religion because there are so many different
kinds of religionists. People say to me:
“Tins church believes so, and this othar
church believes so, and I am completely be
wildered about the whole thing, and so I
shall not take this religion at all.” Standing
in Westminster Hotel, liondon, looking out
of the window, I saw three clocks, and as
near as I can remember, ono was on West
minster Abbey, aud another was on the
Parliament House aud another was on St
Margaret’s Chapel, nml they wore ail differ
ent, and one clock said 12. and another clock
said five minutes before 12, and
another clock said five minutes after 12.
Standing there I might juff a-i well have
said: “Weil, there is no such thing as time
because the time-pieces differ,” as for you to
sit and stand there and say “there is nothing
in religion because religionists differ and
the clocks in tho church steeples
are so different, ono saying ono thing
and another saving another thing. I ted
you it is about noon, it is about 12 o’clock of
the glorious day of pomel dispensation, and
there is enough light for ail—tho noonday
light, how shall we escape if wo neglect so
great salvation. But oh, tho glorious thought
comes over rne, that t lough now ourfamllies
are parted in their worship, worshiping
purely in one church and partly
in another, or, worshiping at the same
altar, they have to]saeri fica thel Fpref eren :es,
if wo are redeemed we are on the way to a
perfect church where all our preferences will
bo gratified. Great cathedral of eternity,
witn arches of amethyst and pillars of sap
phire and floors of emerald and win
dows aglow witii the sunse*, of earth and
the sunrise of heaven. What wide aisles,
spacious enough to allow whole em
pires to enter. What amphitheatre,
with splendor above splendor, gallery above
gallery, princes and prince -sag, kings and
queens bending over them. What stupendous
towers, with chimes, a igel hoisted an I angel
rung. What multitudes of worshiper-, white
robed and coronated. What wall-, hung
with shields and flags captured by church
mil’tant, now bee ime church triumph mt.
Vli'St offleiator at the altar, the gr at Li rh
f.*- “ of our profession. What of
cations. Cornet to cornet, cymbal to cymbal,
harp to harp, organ to organ. Pull out the
tremulant stop to re-ail tue suffering pash
Bull out the trumpet stop to celebrate the
victory.
When shall these eyes thy Heaven built walls
And pearly gates behold,
Thy b llwarks with salvation strong
And streets of shining gold?
A Delicate Compliment.
“.Mrs. Learrnont, of Chicago, and Mrs.
Waldo, of Boston, arc to lunch with me
to day,” s<id a lady to her husband, “but
1 h rally know what to give them.”
• 1 would suggest ' replied the bus
band, “th.t a delicate compliment to
both ladies would be a dish of poik and
beans.”— New York Sun.
“SUB DEO FACIO FOFtTITER.”
VANITAS.
When after long battle the prize has l>oen
gained.
When after long searching tho jewel is
found,
When after long climbing tho peak is at
tained,
When after long sowing tho harvest is
bound,
Then wo halt;
And we fret 'neath the burden of life.
For wo feel that tho victory’s not worth
the strife.
To fail in the heat of the on-rushing race;
To love and rocoivo for our recompense
hate;
To worship mid find that our idol is base;
To trust and awake to deception too late;
Is our lot—
Each n sign on the pathway of life,
Pointing out that tho victory’s not worth
tiie strife.
Our joys never seem the same
thought;
Our hopes never come to their fruitage tin
. marred;
Our future ne’er brings us the grandeur we
sought;
Our past to our vision appears
starred;
Sueh is fate;
But it darkens the glory of life,
Thus to find that the victory's not worth
tho strife.
Over sights that nr* jty, dull clottds
grimly sail;
cr days that are lightsome, cares blight
ingly fall;
Over fund-cherished gardens, blows Boreas’s
gale;
r plans full of promise
lack pall;
So thoy go;
Rut, th : memories cumber our life
With the tale that tho victory’s not worth
t ho strife.
But wo look to aland where the skies never
dull) ,
Wlicro tho flowers never fade, where tho
lights never dim,
Whore the hopes never ebb, whore the joys
never lull,
Where no failures are found to its utter
most rim.
Jlnppy land!
Whore we’ll fool through an unending lifo
That the victory there is well worth all
the strifo.
—Oh us. M. Jlnryer, in Detroit Free]h-esr
WHAT HE BELIEVED IN.
A
“That’s a great note of Jem’s, I do
think, marrying a church woman. Thoy
say she tenches a class in Sunday-school,
too, aud has a face as flat and solemn as
a half-baked pancake!”
“IVliat—Jem Knight—lms he married
a reg’lar-built pious-go to-church and-be
good woman, and him one of the jolliest,
take-it-ensy-nnd do as-you-please cusses
between here and Chicago?”
“That's the talk.”
“Great Jco rusalcm! a sweet time he'll
have. Jest fancy Iter making him slick
up to the music of slow church hells
Sunday mornings and marching him off,
’stead of having a good time at tho gar
dens, to a straight-bucked pew to listen
to Gospel mush!”
Thus spoke a couple of Jem Knight’s
familiar chums, amid a knot of the same
ilk, who were seat’d in the enjoyment
o! their customary beer and cigars in
Bottler’s popular saloon. 'Torn Winter,
a third one of the party, seemed to be
particularly impressed by tho conversa
tion. He was a sharp eyed young chap
of twenty-lhr c or thereabouts, who was
noted for the almost re kb ss manner in
which ite went in for “having a good
time.” Not tiiat. there was anything
really vicious about him. lie was
straightforward, manly and honest, but
full of desire to enjoy life in its freest
going aspects, and especially liberal in
his views touching the observance of
Sunday as a religious ordinance. No one
had overheard of his going to church, or
that he eared a button either ono way or
the other about church going or any of
its straight-laced arrangements. Hence
it was with more than common surprise
that his churns hear I him say:
“Well, I don't undertake to know,
gents, if Jem's wife is the right woman
otherwise, I should say he’d made a good
strike, getting one who goes to church.
I don’t go much <m churches myself. I
used to go with the old folks when I was
a little shaver about knee-high to a duck.
But that was when I had to. It’s a good
many years now since i was inside of
one. As I said, I don’t go much on it
myself. It’s too slow for my taste. At
the flame time, I believe in a woman go
ing to church. I've noticed the women
that go to church arc generally the be t
sort. A;man can depend oa ’em. They
keep things straight at home and bring
the children up right. A mart can feel
safe when he’s away having his own fun.
that they won’t be running into arty of
the blamed dance-hall and beer-g ird"n
foolishness that winds up so often in dis
gra: o to a rna i s home. Oh, you boys
rnav sneer. I allow it may be all humbug,
and too slow for men like us. But it's
dead Mire: the women who go to church
are the steadiest sort a man can tie to.
J don't car: how much you laugh and
poke fun. I've seen too many wrecked
homes and ruined lives grow out of pick
ing wives from free dances and Sunday
picnics. There’s too much nonsense in
it for me.. If I every marry I shad do as
Jem has done -pick a wife that goes to
church.”
And he did. To the increased surprise
and astonishment of his chums, the jovial,
rollicking, devil-may-care Tom, who had
all his life gone in for every species of
free-and easy enjoyment: made fun of
parsons, and what he (idled long faced,
church going milk-sops, more recklessly
than auv of them, actually married a
nu mber of the Lev. Mr. Gracelv’s church,
a woman who was noted for tho solidly
serious aspect of her face and strict ob
sen anee of the Sabbath.
A nice-looking woman, to be sure, and
steady, with not a bit of nonsense about
her. A rare good housekeeper, too, who
kept herself and all things about her in
the very best of "apple-pie order.” That
much was conceded ; only, as one of the
boys put it, "too thundering orderly! A
nice time jioor Tom’ll have now. We
shall see him creeping about with a taco
ns long as a fiddle.”
This proved a mistake. So far as outer
appearance was concerned, Turn lost
none of his old-time jollity of speech and
demeanor, and he seemed to retain all
his old plcnsurc-lovingdispodtion. When
ever he met the boys he was as keen as
ever to have a good time; neither did lie
fall into going to church. On the latter
point he remarked once in strict conli
dence that it was all right, and a mighty
good thing for a woman to go to church,
but too slow and hum-drum for a man's
enjoyment.
Still, it came to bo noted after aw hile
that ho was not exactly the old Tom. As
the yt ars rolled by aud three handsome
children begnn to accompany their
mother to Sunday-school, and who were
so neatly clothed and well-behaved as to
call forth the admiring comments of all
who saw them, their father grew a trifle
more staid and dignified, as one begin
ning to be soincwhut impressed with the
more serious aspects of life; to feel that
a man was made for something more
serious than an endless round of cnrelcss
frolic. It was seen, too, that he was
more careful not to let the good times he
indulged in come within the scope of his
home surroundings. This much, at least,
his wife’s influence had accomplished.
‘‘l don't go to church,” lie said apolo
getically to a friend one day, "but it
wouldn’t bo the right tiling to let those
boys of mine get to know their father’s
free didos. It’s nil right enough so far
as 1 am concerned, because I know
when I’ve gone far enough. I tut it's
best to let the children come up sort of
straight; the way their mother wants,”
A most admirable woman this same
mother had turned out to be, as Tom
very well know, and no little bo Was
proud of her. Yet not half proud enough.
Indeed, it was not yet in his apprehen
sion to appreciate her full value. It did
not enter his conception that the respect
which had fallen to himself in connection
with his excellently-ordered home was
entirely duo to liis church-going wife.
An especially sensible woman, too.
Albeit it lmd grieved her more than
] words can express that her husband
could find en joyment in pleasures which
at best were empty and iiivolous, if not
positively wrong, by not the slightest
petulant complaint had she ever up
braided him or striven by aught save the
gentlest suggestions to lead him to her
own better way of life.
There came a sad day, alas! for him,
and still more, alas! for the three beauti
ful children. The good wife and mother
was called away from them, and they
were left desolate indeed. The blow was
a hard one. What now was the be
reaved husband to do? Ho far ns worldly
goods were concerned ho was amply pro
vided. lie had abundance; but not all
the wealth in the universe could have
made up the loss they had sustained.
Even his oil roystering companions con
fessed to each other that it was "awful
rough, you know ’; that in his case there
could be no doubt that Tom had ‘‘struck
it rich” when he got. the wife who went
to church.
What would lie do? A year later he
told a bosom friend that he must secure
a second mother for his children.
“You will marry one that goes to
church?”
"More resolved on that than ever.”
“Hut you don't go yourself?”
“No. The fact is, it's too slow for mo.
I like to enjoy myself with tilings more
lively; and when I’ve got one at home
who pulls steady in the traces, as these
church-going women do, I can feel safe
and comfortable.”
He found the woman he thought would
suit. A lady who lmd been somewhat
intimate witli his wife, a member of the
same church, and altogether after the
same right-going pattern. In fact, a
steady, clear-headed woman, who knew
when things were right , and was prompt
and decisive to have t hem so.
"True,” ns Tom whispered to himself,
“I expect she’ll try to pull me short up
into straight strings, a good deal tighter
than Emily did. She is not as soft and
yielding as I’d like. But she'll be all
right for the children. I can trust her.
When it conies to a question of what’s
best to be done, there ain’t a bit of non
sense about her. Ho I’ll take her.”
To his great surprise, however, he
found that the second church-going wo
man was not prepared to accept his oiler
with the pleased alacrity he hud ox
pectcd. Knowing that she was in rather
straightened circumstances, entirely de
pendent on her own exertions for a livli
hood, lie had felt sure that liis own well
appointed home would prove a tempta
tion the lady would riot dream to refuse.
But, instead of the gratefully expressed
“yes” lie had looked for, she replied:
"May f ask why you have given me
the preference, Mr. Winter?”
“Because I want a mother for those
children who goes to church. T married
Emily on that account, and she managed
so well that I determined to choose one
of the same good sort.”
“I commend the wisdom of your de
cision. But you do not attend church
yourself?”
“O, it don't matter about me, you
know. 80 long as the mother is all right
to keep things straight at home it don’t
make a bit of dilference whether a man
goes to church or not.”
“In his own estimation, perhaps. But
have you thought. Mr. Winter, that your
churi h-going wife may be just as anxious
to have a husband whose integrity of
principle may be uudei the (.living in
lluence of church attendarc e as you are
in regard to the lady of your choice? If
you desire to feel at rest touching your
VOL. 1. NO
wife’s conduct at home is it not equally
desirablo that your wife's mind should
be at rest touching your honesty of con
duct when out of her sight?”
Here was a new aspect, and at first he
thought it was a very foolish aspect, not
to say ridiculous. lie could not under
stand the idea of a m n being amenable
to the sumo rules of moral conduct that
are required in a woman. And he said
so. But to all his arguments and plead
ings the lady turned a deaf ear. She
would not marry a man who did not go
to church; that, much of safeguaid to the
clean life of the man she would accept
must be given in return for her own
wholesome purity and unblemished prin
ciples.
At first Tom vowed to himself that he
would not tie himself down to any such
unmanly giving way to a woman’s foolish
whim. Ashe more and more observed,
however, thattho lady was possessed of
precisely the excellent qualities ho espc
cially desired inn mother for his chil
dren, lie finally gave the requisite pledge
that lie would accompany his wife to
church at least once each Sabbath-day.
“Poor chap!” said his old chums,
“now he is shorn of Ids liberty, tied to
the apron-strings of a hard-faced,church
going fanatic. He'll be in a lunatic asy
lum in less than six mouths.”
They wero mistaken. Certainly, tv
great change enmo over Idm. That was
apparent to the least observant. He was
no longer the roystering, free-and-easy
Tom. The old card-playing, dice-throw
ing, time wasting haunts lost his pres
ence. No more was he seen in the
noisy, brawling, tippling hcer-girdens
ou Sunday, lie now sought rest and
peaceful quiet from the cares of the
week's business within the blessed safo
guards of his own lircside. And when,
with wife and children, he walked to
church, no more beautiful picture could
anywhere be seen. And, as timo sped
I on, and he found that the influence of
1 the church going lie had always seen to
b.; so good for a woman e ptally refining
and excellent in its elfects on a man, he
blessed the impulse that led his second
wife to impel him into the path of life's
truest enjoyment; and, albeit, here were
those of his old chums who still won
dered that he could have been “led by
the nose by a woman,” most of them wero
free to confess that, after all, he was
more of a man, a better man, in fact,
than ho had ever been before.
To one who asked him how lie ever
came to let himself he tied to a woman’s
apron-strings, he said:
“If the chief bulk of married men
could bo ted to the apron-strings of
| wives who are anchored on a foundation
, of church-going principle-, we, should
have it far greater number of happy
homes and vastly more peace and happi
: ness in the world at large.” —Oleroland
I Loader.
Preserving Mild Game.
One of the principal and proudest ob
jeets of the Yellowstone National Park
and its supervision is to give the royal
game of (he Kocky Mountains a chance
to flourish there without let or hindrance.
No one being perinittid to hunt within
the limits of the reservation, which is
larger than some of the older States, all
tiie wild animals and birds of the West
arc now congregated there; and it must
ho a luxry to the “poor heastics” worth
having- this immunity from slaughter,
very much on a par witli the peace which
, comes to human communities, after
being harried and worried by long years
of desolating wars. Here are to be secu
in their native wilds and their native
glory such noble specimens of American
game as the mountain bulfalo, thoinoosn
or moss deer, the elk, the antelope, the
: mountain sheep, the • different varieties
of deer and all the carnivora that in
habit the uplands. And nearly all these
animals have already become so tame as
to pay little or no heed to the presence
or approach of the tyrant man. AVo
passed one day within a U:w rods of us
a flock of wild geese, feeding in a field
along the roadside ns unconcernedly as
any of their domestic descendants in a
farmer's poultry yard, and the wild ante
lope (“That starts when’er the dry leaf
rustics in the brake,” so wild and wary
that I believe I’ve spent more hours in
honest endeavor to get within gunshot
of him on the plains than of all the rest
of the game tribe of whatever name or
nature), this graceful creature, now in
the park, is in the habit of stopping and
turning to watch and wonder at the
movements of the various visitors with a
curiosity devoid of fear. What a splendid
boon is this to the wild beasts and birds
of our country! and if nothing more
were meant by it than their preservation
and perpetuity, the setting apart of this
gre t game preserve for nil time is not
only highly creditable to the government,
hut more particularly to the wisdom and
sagacity of the man who first conceived
the project and pressed it to a successful
issue in the halls of Congress- -icon
I Field.
Floating Island.
„ne phenomenon of floating islands is
produced by accumulations of drift
wood, among which drifting sands and
tart a collect and form a soil, in which
plants take root and flourish. In a lake
of East Prussia such islands have au ex
tent sufficient to pasture 100 cattle; and
in Lake Kolm, neur Osnabruck, is aflost
j ing island bearing many line elms. Masses
of this nature are detached from the
great “rafts” of some American rivers,
and reach the sea through the Missis
s ppi. Such island; from the Ganges
; have been found 100 miles from land.
They arc abundant in South American
rivers, carrying a great variety of animal
! and vegetable life, in the distribution of
which—especially by conveying large
! species of the South Pacific Islands —
they may have played a very important
part. llemarkable fi< ating islands are
found in the .Malay archipelago. In
Mexico the primitive Aztifcs formed arti
! ficial one-, reaching a length of 200 or
j 300 feet, upon which fine flower and
| vegetable gardens were cultivated.